Northwest Indian College announces successful accreditation as four-year degree granting institution
Whatcom County – Cheryl Crazy Bull President of Northwest Indian College, a tribally-chartered college of the Lummi Nation, is pleased to announce that NWIC was recently granted accreditation at the baccalaureate degree level and was reaffirmed accreditation at the associate degree level.
With this affirmation as a four-year degree granting institution, NWIC, the only accredited tribal institution in the Pacific Northwest, is a comprehensive post-secondary institution better able to fulfill its vision of place-based education for all Native people especially in the Pacific Northwest. The college seeks to strengthen its model of continuous improvement, advancing the quality of life for all northwest Indian communities by encouraging, preparing and promoting Indian people to successfully complete secondary and post-secondary education.
The Northwest Indian College has been an accredited two-year post-secondary institution since 1988. The College was granted accreditation by the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges effective September, 1993. On May 2, 2007 the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities granted Northwest Indian College candidacy status at the baccalaureate level and reaffirmed accreditation at the associate degree level in January 2009.
The commission’s recent accreditation of NWIC at the baccalaureate level includes the College’s Bachelor of Science in Native Environmental Science (BSNES). Northwest Indian College voluntarily engaged in a comprehensive self-study review process as a 4-year degree granting institution, by which institutional accreditation was granted by a regional accrediting agency within the scope of authority of the U.S. Department of Education. Institutional accreditation applies to the college as a whole, not individual programs or units within the institution. The effective date for accreditation at this programming level is Sept. 1, 2008.
The development of NWIC as a bachelor’s degree granting institution has been a shared community vision and ongoing goal of the college since the inception of Northwest Indian College. Throughout the College’s history, the Board of Trustees, tribal leaders and NWIC faculty, staff and students have worked together to develop academic and social programs that meet the emerging and evolving economic and human development needs of tribal communities.
“I’d like to congratulate and thank all of you – your work, support and prayers made this possible,” Crazy Bull said. “Generations of tribal students will benefit from our ability to support their professional education. Our focus on our tribal mission and the mandate we have to provide a culturally sound, high-quality education has brought this success to bear.
“The Commission restated their commendations of the College’s devotion to mission, applauds the ‘community’ that the College is, and recognized the successes we have had with our campus development, fundraising and with the new Center for Student Success.”
Northwest Indian College’s main campus is located at the Lummi Nation with extended campus sites at Swinomish, Muckleshoot, Port Gamble, Tulalip and Nez Perce. More than 1,300 students participated in NWIC programs and services in the last academic year. NWIC is the largest provider of educational services for adult Native people in the Pacific Northwest.